This morning our admin council had guest presenter, Hailey Coleman, the Youth Vaping Program Coordinator and Operations Assistant from the Manitoba Lung Association. She shared about the newly revamped “Lungs Are For Life” program which now includes more information on vaping. She shared that, in 2019, Manitoba Gr 7-12 use of vaping products has increased by 21.5% and it can be speculated that this statistic has increased in 2020 given the correlation between youth mental health and the prevalence of vaping. Lungs are for Life Program Overview “Lungs are for Life! is the vaping and smoking prevention program for students… Read More
#WOWWednesday – Alisha Thompson
Every Wednesday I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice. This week I would like to highlight Alisha Thompson from Winnipegosis Elementary School (WES). Alisha teaches Grades 5/6 and has developed her own classroom website using Weebly. This website serves as an online hub for her classroom featuring: easy access to common classroom links including the WES main page, Office 365 login, & the class Team… Read More
#WOWWednesday – Maintenance Department
Every Wednesday I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice. This week I want to provide a shoutout to members of our team who help provide the supports so that our tech is accessible to the broader community. Beginning in April, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and suspension of classes, MVSD began offering free wifi via hotspots in all 7 of our MVSD communities:… Read More
Kids These Days : Chapters 1-3
Today is a divisional professional development day in MVSD. Although that looks different this year (no large gathering with all schools) the dedication to learning has not changed. This year we are focusing on the work of Dr. Jody Carrington through a guiding book study of, “Kids These Days“. We are starting today with Chapters 1-3 and will be progressing through the remaining 5 chapters through the school year. The following are my takeaways, reflections, and notes to guide my learning. (Re)connecting Back to the Beginning – Why You Chose This Holy Work of Educating Our Future Generations Main Takeaways… Read More
#WOWWednesday – WCI
Every Wednesday I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions my visits to schools are more limited compared to last year. While I was previously able to visit schools on my own schedule, with a goal of visiting each one every month, my visits now require a lot more planning. I would previously have lots of time to visit classes, work… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Social Media in Schools
Every Tuesday I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. This week’s tech tip is courtesy of Stacey Penner, part of our Kindergarten team at Henderson Elementary School. You can follow along with Stacey’s kinder class on Instagram. View this post on Instagram #TechTipTuesday features Stacey from @heslittlekindersbigroars with some tips on how she uses social media to connect with her school community & provide support for families. Give them a follow! #mvsd_mb A post shared by Kirsten Thompson – ICT (@thompsonclassroom) on… Read More
IT Professionals Day
Today is IT Professionals Day. Personally, if there was ever a year to thank your IT team I think it would be 2020. I am incredibly thankful that MVSD has such a strong, dedicated team that make up our ICT Department. Our group of seven: provides support for ~4000 users boasts 80+ combined years experience within MVSD completed 2000+ personalized IT requests in 2019/2020 this is on top of infrastructure maintenance, installations, and larger inter-departmental projects
#WOWWednesday – HES PAC
Every Wednesday I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice. This week I’d like to highlight the Henderson Elementary School PAC who has started using social media as a means of connecting with local stakeholders and increasing transparency between families and their organization. They chose Facebook as their platform of choice and have quickly reached many of their HES families; give them a follow!
The Inequity of Remote Learning
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced schools around the world to rethink how education is delivered to our youth. It has also placed a magnifying glass on the number of social services provided by schools. No longer is the conversation simply centered on, “how are schools teaching children”. This dialogue opened up an often overlooked fact that schools have become not only centers of education but also that of nutrition, mental health, security, and facilitators of economic participation. On September 8th, four days after a draft version was shared with school divisions, the province of Manitoba published the Manitoba Education Standards… Read More
Tech Training for Parents/Guardians
When the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the suspension of in-person classes in March of 2020 we were all thrown into an emergency scenario that saw all stakeholders try their best to accomplish distance content delivery for their students. In all cases, educators relied heavily on the parents/guardians of their students to assist however they could. This included: picking up hard-copy packages from schools or via mail providing a device of some type assisting in whatever troubleshooting was needed learning alongside their child and answering questions as they arrived serving as a communication liason between children and teachers Six months later… Read More